Boulder Avenue Bridge Over Burlington Northern Railroad, Image K

The new Boulder Avenue bridge over the Burlington Northern Railroad opened in February 2013, 14.5 years after the old bridge closed in the fall of 1998. The new bridge, which is shown looking west from the Main Street bridge and is located between Archer and First streets, is three spans with steel girders and has four lanes with two-way traffic. As for the bridge's approaches, Boulder Avenue is two-way traffic north of Archer Street and one-way northbound south of First Street, so traffic in the two western lanes (either direction) must turn west onto First Street. The new bridge also features art work and, according to reports, later will include murals/plaques about the area’s history that will be installed. The old bridge was one of five Depression-era bridges that spanned the railroad tracks in downtown Tulsa and was one-way northbound. In 1976, the bridge received a 10-ton load limit. Other old bridges in the area, such as those on Third and Main streets and Cincinnati Avenue, were replaced with new bridges in the 1970s and early 1980s, while the Boston Avenue bridge was converted to a pedestrian bridge in the early 1980s. The Boulder bridge remained in use during this time with its 10-ton load limit until 1998, when it was closed to all but pedestrians. As the old bridge deteriorated, pedestrians eventually were banned from the bridge, and it sat dormant for several years, with pieces of concrete occasionally flaking off from the substructure. Signs were erected warning motorists utilizing parking spaces below the bridge of possible damage caused by concrete falling from the aging structure, and the parking spaces eventually were fenced off. The bridge sat there until the summer of 2009, at which time the city of Tulsa demolished it and left the abutment walls standing. Fences were installed to prevent people from climbing on them. The walls stood there until early 2012, at which time construction began on the new bridge. The walls were used to form part of the base for the new abutment walls, and crews began building the new bridge, which opened in February 2013. The completion of this bridge concludes replacement/renovation of the Depression-era road bridges in downtown Tulsa. The new bridge was funded by the 2006 sales tax and the 2008 Fix Our Streets package.

Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections.